“Who actually gets to win a national championship? Like, that’s so rare,” Chloe Teter, one of NYU women’s basketball team captains, told WSN. The Violets have now won two in a row.

“One game at a time” has been the Violets’ mantra all year. It’s paid off for 62 straight games. 

The Violets’ unbreakable defense is a hallmark of its program. The full-court press, a staple strategy of the team, wears down its opponents as the shot clock ticks away. 

The team is led by a versatile group of upperclassmen, including graduate forward Natalie Bruns, three-time UAA player of the year. She’s started all but two games in her NYU career. 

Bruns holds the program record for career blocks. She hit 300 during the Feb. 21 game against Carnegie Mellon University. 

An audience member said, “She’s not Belle, she’s a beast!” Senior guard Belle Pellecchia has been named UAA Defensive Player of the Year for all four of her collegiate basketball seasons. She leads the UAA in steals and leads the Violets in free throws, with nearly an 80% accuracy rate. 

The Violets lead the UAA in nearly every scoring stat and earned the No. 2 spot on the NCAA Power Index Rankings ahead of March Madness in 2025.

Junior guard Caroline Peper is another standout player on the team. She broke her own scoring record during three games in the 2024-2025 season, two of which occurred in back-to-back weeks. 

The fourth quarter is where the underclassmen get their time to shine. With the Violets almost always ahead by double-digit margins, head coach Meg Barber is free to switch out her starters for her reserves.

For first-year guard Zahra Alexander, every minute on the court is an opportunity for the underclassmen to better their game. “I really had to work harder in order to get the playing time that I was going to get,” Alexander said of the work she put in during the preseason.

The team’s record is unshakeable, even on the road. Its largest win margin came against Case Western Reserve University on the Spartans’ home turf, where the Violets pulled off a 76-point blowout. 

Peper attributes the team’s ability to hold steady during away games to the upperclassmen’s lack of a proper home gym. Before the Paulson Center opened in 2023, NYU’s basketball teams hosted games in the Brooklyn Athletic Facility. The smaller, more distant gymnasium only held four rows of bleachers hosting approximately 100 fans, a far cry from the packed Paulson Center stands. Home or away, “we’re all just trying to win a game,” Peper said.

And win they did. Yet another undefeated season for the Violets culminated in sole ownership of the UAA championship title. 

The Violets’ domination over other UAA teams earned NYU hosting rights for the first and second rounds of NCAA tournament play. For the seniors, this marked the last-ever games played in their home gym.

“Being part of this program has been one of the most impactful decisions of my life,” Bruns said in a press conference after the NCAA second round. 

The team’s three seniors, Pellecchia, Fahey and Teter, alongside graduate students Behar and Bruns, were honored with flowers and plaques ahead of their Senior Day game.

“Being the reigning national champions, we know there’s a target on our back,” Barber said in a press conference. NCAA tournament play kicked off on March 7 in the Paulson Center with a doubleheader hosted by NYU. The Violets faced Gallaudet University in the first round.

While Gallaudet gained an edge against NYU at the start by scoring the first six points in the game, the NYU players didn’t let that shake them and turned it around quickly. With a 102-62 win, the team advanced to the second round. 

NYU moved on to face Trinity College in the second round. The Violets forced 47 points off turnovers and came out on top of the game.

The Violets cut through the rest of the NCAA competition, meeting Smith College for the championship matchup in Salem, VA. 

With a final score of 77-49, the Violets came out with the national title, holding onto their spot as the No. 1-ranked D-III women’s basketball team in the nation. 

The Violets’ success wouldn’t be possible without the formidable coaching staff that heads the team. Barber, alongside associate head coach Nettie Respondek and assistant coach Annie Barrett has transformed NYU’s women’s basketball program. Both Barber and Barrett are alums of the NYU basketball team, and bring a deep understanding of the program to this year’s team.

Since taking over the head coach position in 2018, Meg Barber holds a 121-21 record. She led the Violets to their second ever NCAA Division III Championship win in 2024 and to four other tournament appearances. 

The coaching staff drills the team hard between seasons, pushing them to new heights each year. For Teter, these moments are a core part of the team’s bond.

“All teams need moments like those to learn how to push through uncomfortable feelings. Even if you’re really tired, you have to find a way to help somebody else who’s even more tired feel better and get back at it,” Teter said. “We were able to find ways to lift each other up.”

The strength of the team’s bond is apparent on the court and on the sidelines. The team’s communication during games is essential to their success, and players on the sidelines always make their support known. 

“These little girls look at us like we’re their superheroes,” said Pellecchia in a press conference. 

At every game, kids line up at halftime to high-five the Violets, wait after for the players to sign posters and cheer loudly from the sidelines. The team hasn’t just left its mark on NYU’s athletic history, but a whole generation of young girls as well.